


Freedom's Price

by i_claudia



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Infidelity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-05-25
Updated: 2008-05-25
Packaged: 2017-11-18 11:41:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/560678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_claudia/pseuds/i_claudia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How long had she known? It felt like ages; some days she imagined the heaviness in her chest had always been there, slowing her reactions, dulling her senses.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Freedom's Price

**Author's Note:**

> Written for last drabble writer standing and posted on LJ [here](http://i-claudia.livejournal.com/9535.html#cutid2). (25 May 2008)

She sat and stared at the parchment in front of her, her mind blank as the last rays of sunlight slowly crawled away across the floor, leaving her in shadow. She smoothed a hand across the creamy blank expanse, proud that she only trembled slightly.

How long had she known? It felt like ages; some days she imagined the heaviness in her chest had always been there, slowing her reactions, dulling her senses. She shut her eyes and leaned back, breathing deeply to stem the hurt.

She’d felt him grow more distant, preoccupied; at times he’d seemed to look right through her as if at something – some _one_ – else. He’d started spending more time at the office.

_She’d never expected to see him on a rare trip to the Ministry as she was bringing some paperwork in for the Harpies. She’d rounded a corner, thinking that the little-used hallway would make a good shortcut, and stopped dead at the sight that greeted her. There was her husband, pinned against the wall by a jarringly familiar_ other _, apparently thoroughly enjoying himself._

_Her first instinct had been to go for her wand, but she couldn’t seem to make herself move. She had stood, frozen, and watched as her husband pushed the blond man –_ that _one, of course, she should have seen this coming years ago – away and shook his head, speaking quickly, too softly for her to hear his words. She’d watched as the other man seemed to slump for a fraction of a second before squaring his shoulders, nodding, and walking away, not looking back once._

_She’d seen the look on her husband’s face as he watched him leave, and it had broken the last few fragments of her heart._

Now she set her quill to parchment, writing quickly, with sure strokes. The children wouldn’t understand at first, she knew. The two of them had played their parts so well. Albus Severus would take it especially hard; but in time the wounds would heal.

When she was finished, she laid the letter carefully on his pillow and left without another look, swallowing the heartache and the bile that rose in her throat as she closed the door behind her. She couldn’t keep him caged forever; her love wouldn’t allow her to be his jailer. It was time to set him free.


End file.
